A Hamilton native and West Chester resident, the 2002 Miami University graduate is one of more than 120 staffers at Total Quality Logistics, which provides truckers for companies that need to have freight hauled - or finds freight for truckers who need to fill out a weekly or daily itinerary.

Each weekday, more than 5,000 calls - half inbound, half outbound - ripple through the company's Milford offices, for an average of 27,000 calls per week.

For Cummins, who manages 40 to 60 loads a week, his day of cross-continental freight management may consist of finding a driver for a load of ready-to-eat frozen Italian meals leaving the Michilini plant in Jackson, Ohio, bound for a retailer in San Antonio, Texas, and another retailer in Phoenix, Ariz.

Or perhaps it's a load of containers and lids headed to Biazzo Diary in Ridgefield, N.J., a shipment of frozen meals from Highliner Foods to a Save A Lot in Humboldt, Tenn., or any number of products bound for a Wal-Mart in Terrell, Texas, or a King Sooper in Denver.

"It's all about communication," Cummins said last week.

When an account executive is desperate, he stands up in the roomful of cubicles and shouts: "I need a truck in California."

Across the sprawling office, a colleague may stand and reply: "I've got a guy."

TQL, which is the crossroads of commerce, just-in-time delivery and gung-ho cold-calling combined, can also boast:

• On-time delivery is 98 percent.

• Employee turnover is a scant 5 percent for those who have worked there longer than a year.

• Its freight is 40 percent fresh produce, 40 percent refrigerated goods and 20 percent other loads.

• Nine of 10 TQL salespeople were involved with sports in high school or college.

• Three of 10 TQL salespeople were captains of their teams in high school or college.

"Powerful and aggressive is the way we like them," said president Ken Oaks.